Catching on that Kane wasn’t going anywhere, Crow sighed quietly and exchanged a subtle glance with Naida. It seemed like Penelope’s friendliness had attracted some unpleasant company, and since she had already told the nobleman that he could stay, there wasn’t anything that he or his sister could say to undo it. She was the one they were supposed to be celebrating, after all. If she was fine with an additional member of their little group for the night, then they would have to put up with it. He just hoped Kane wouldn’t stay very long. The tension in the room was so thick, it could have been cut with a knife.

As Penelope and her new friend began to chat, Crow caught sight of Naida downing the rest of her cider without restraint. He prodded her shin with his boot underneath the table to get her attention and shot her a quizzical look, to which she shrugged and rolled her eyes toward Kane. The message was clear enough: [i]He makes me want to drink.[/i]

The viceroy smirked at her amusedly and turned to the nobleman, who had taken that moment to address him in the conversation. His first impulse was to respond that the Younisian king hadn’t seemed very angry with him when he’d swiped the staff, but the remark died on his tongue when he remembered what Aeklora had said to him in the castle that night. The ruler at the time had been nearing his death bed. If the goddess’s prediction had been right, then the monarch he would be sent to speak with was probably an entirely different person. However, there was no way he was supposed to know that, so he kept the information to himself.

“That was over two years ago,” he said flippantly instead. “If someone recognizes me after all this time, I’d be flattered.”

“Father said the staff you stole was important because it could only be held by their true king,” Naida mused, grinning playfully at her brother. “If that’s true, maybe they should have built a statue in your honor.”

“I wouldn’t oppose it,” Crow mirrored her expression.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” the princess snorted and glanced at Kane. “But seriously, even if they do recognize you, the way I see it, they owe you for trying to stop the war we’re all caught up in now.”

“They would have been absorbed into Brerra if that staff had made it back to the king,” the viceroy pointed out blandly, missing what she was trying to do. He took another swig of his mead and drummed his fingers contemplatively on the table. “I have to wonder what happened to it though. For a few weeks, the staff was everything, and then it just… vanished. I find it hard to believe that the mercenaries who took it had just wanted to keep it all to themselves. Something doesn’t add up.”